Armonk, New York-based IBM (IBM), which offers mortgage servicing through its Seterus division, agreed to acquire Toronto-basedAlgorithmics, a risk analysis firm, for $387 million.
The firm provides software and advisory services used by banks, investment and insurance companies to assess risk and ensure compliance with regulations.
IBM said the acquisition "expands IBM's business analytics capabilities in the financial services industry by helping clients quantify, manage and optimize their risk exposure across a range of financial risk domains."
In May, IBM rebranded its mortgage servicing division to Seterus from IBM Lender Business Process Services. The speciality servicer is based in Beaverton, Ore.
The mortgage servicing division actively participates in the Home Affordable Modification Program to help distressed borrowers.
The acquisition, which is pending per the agreement, mirrors outsourcing giant Accenture's (ACN) agreement to buy residential and commercial mortgage processing services firm Zenta earlier this month. That deal will grow Accenture's ability to provide business streamlining services and customer operations toclients in the mortgage lending and servicing industries, as well as real estate investment trusts.
Write to:Kerri Panchuk.

Related Articles

Kerri Ann Panchuk was the Online Editor of HousingWire.com, and regular contributor to HousingWire magazine. Kerri joined HousingWire as a Reporter in early 2011 and since earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University. She previously worked at the Dallas Business Journal.

This month inHousingWire magazine

The appraisal industry is in the midst of huge disruption as automated valuation models and hybrid appraisal products gain favor with regulators and investors. What does the future hold for appraisers and appraisal companies as they adjust to the new realities of automation?

Feature

[Free HousingWire Magazine read] As Millennials grapple with paying off student loans, their opportunity to buy a home gets pushed further and further into the future. That delay has consequences far beyond individual students — the growing student debt crisis impacts every part of the economy.

Commentary

There has been a conscious and rapid shift to broaden the use of alternative valuation products for origination. Not every decision needs a $500, full-blown 1004 interior appraisal. And in some markets where appraisers are short in number, the turn times can stretch from days to weeks. What these new alternative — some would say disruptive — valuation products do is enable lenders and servicers to better match the product to the risk by harnessing big data and technology.